March job numbers show improvement, but nothing dramatic

The March employment report contains mildly good news. According to government figures, the number of jobs increased by 162,000 last month. This is only the second month since late 2007 that the economy gained jobs.
However, according to Politico, the consensus among economists was that March would show a job increase of at least 200,000. Several factors pointed to such an expansion. The government hired approximately 50,000 people to take the census. And the bounce-back from snowy February also resulted in more jobs.
Despite all of the new jobs, the unemployment rate remained at 9.7 percent. That’s because discouraged workers increasingly began looking for work. A person is not deemed unemployment if he or she has abandoned the labor force.
Overall, the March report confirms that the job picture is improving, but suggests that the improvement is occurring slowly.